Video: Stay fit while having fun

Staying fit in your 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s is easy with basic exercises that can be done at home.

Sue Scheible

Staying fit in your 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s is easy with basic exercises that can be done at home.

Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., is senior fitness executive at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Mass. A nationally known expert on fitness and strength training, he has chosen one aerobic exercise and one strength-training activity for each decade.

“This is a basic framework for staying in shape,” Westcott says. In harder exercises – jogging, pushups – you carry or lift your own weight and work against gravity. In easier exercises like swimming and cycling, your weight is partially supported.

Westcott included one aerobic exercise and one strength-training activity to keep people fit for each decade during their 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s.

“This is a basic framework for staying in shape,” he said. “I selected the ones I think are best, based on what most people can do comfortably at the different ages,” he said.

The workouts are easy to learn and can be done at home.

Rita LaRosa Loud, director of health and well-being programming at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, demonstrates the exercises.